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I’ve been reading all the buzz about the new book Bringing Up Bebe, about an American woman raising her children in France, and the different parenting methods there compared to the US.

There’s two very good articles that I read on the subject that definitely were interesting. I’m not one to jump on the latest bandwagon or change a method of my parenting because of a recent book I read, but I most definitely like to be informed. Ignorance is something I hate, so when I encounter something I’m not familiar with, I must become familiar with it. This is the reason I spent most of my lunch breaks last week listening to podcasts explaining what happened in Europe to the euro and the reasons for Greece’s bankruptcy. Now I know.

This WSJ article was the first one I read, and I thought it was pretty interesting. Now do I believe everything in it, no. Do I believe there are some French women who are completely devoted to their children and play with their children every single day? Of course. But are there some good, valid, common sense strategies in it? Definitely.

This second article from Huffington Post I thought was really interesting as well. It is another American woman’s take on raising her children in France and it’s not quite as rosy as the first. It brings up some good points about the lack of breastfeeding mothers in France, and the reasons maybe French mothers are not as stressed as their American counterparts. Hello free preschool? Hello monthly payments from government for each child you have? Yeah, that right there would save any mother a whole lot of stress.

Anyway, I thought I would share the articles with you. In the end I think mothers, regardless of the country they reside in, follow their instincts. Usually those instincts are right. But I do wish maybe we mamas weren’t so hard on ourselves in America. I’m constantly thinking about how my actions affect my kids, and the many times I’m a “bad” mom(i.e. lost my temper, raised my voice, made the wrong decision, kept my kid up too late and then had to wake them before school so they were weepy and sad the entire day, must’ve done or eaten or not eaten or not done something when I was pregnant that caused my kid to need glasses, see what I mean?) But if I had to choose, I think striving to be the best mama even if I never think I can ever attain it is something I would choose each and every time versus feeling confident and sure of myself as a mother. I would love to meet a mom one day that thinks they know what they are doing. And if I ever meet her I’d look her in the eyes and I’d call her a liar…

I put teaching my kids to read in the same category as potty training. It’s something that must be done, but I would like to just skip it and go straight to wearing underwear with no accidents and reading Ramona Quimby fluently. But it takes a lot of work to get to both places. Teaching my last *sniff* child to read is bittersweet. But it’s oh so rewarding. She’s officially a reader….if you’d like to enjoy a few minutes of her reading Green Eggs & Ham, be my guest. Just ignore the fact that she likes to move a whole lot while reading. This girl cracks me up.

I have only purchased clothes for myself at Zara, but my girlfriend raves about their kids clothes. None of the Zara stores near me carries the kids line, so I decided to try it out online. Free shipping, so no harm done. And the prices on some of these sale dresses!

$7.99!

$7.99!

$3.99!

So I will let you know the verdict as soon as I get the package in the mail. I ordered a few more items but they are already gone from the website. They have clothes for babies from newborn on up to 14 years.

The website for The City School is up and running now. In fact you can even see a photo of the back of Gunnar running on the home page. 🙂 The FAQ page is really informative and they have a link to sign ups for interested parents. It’s purely lottery to get into the school, but they have a very progressive goal of immense diversity both racially and socio-economically. I’m most impressed in their extremely low teacher student ratio. And for their language program the choices will be languages which include Mandarin, Korean, French, etc. They are planning on having a gardening program which thrills me. It’s one the neatest parts of my kids’ elementary school and I would be so sad to see that end once they graduate. Also, for the high school they are planning on having the option of Early College. Aaron took part in this where he went to school. Starting in 11th grade you have the option of being part of a group that goes to a local college for your classes. So once you graduate you have credits, or even a year or two under your belt. They also will offer AP classes, which was more my high school experience. I’m so proud to be a part of this. If you can’t tell. 🙂

Such a favorite spot for our family, Laguna tide pools. We had a family playdate with Jane’s family. And it was perfect. Perfect weather. Perfect company. Perfect. The easiest way to describe how to get to the tide pools is to search for Las Brisas in Laguna Niguel. It’s a restaurant right on the water. There’s parking meters all over and once you park, head behind the restaurant and you’ll see a ramp and a flight of stairs going to the beach. At the beach, look to your right and there are signs for the tide pools. It’s such a great beach. You don’t have to walk a half mile to get to the water. I snapped these all with my iPhone. If I weren’t so lazy I would’ve even loaded Aaron’s iPhone photos, but I’m lazy. So there.

I’ve shared in the past that I’m a Founding Parent for a Charter Middle School that is hoping to open it’s doors in the westside of Los Angeles in the fall. We got the best news this afternoon, the school’s charter was submitted to LAUSD months ago, and today they ruled on it, and approved it! This is great news because now we can get a location! On to the next step.

1.10 yo’s favorite sack lunch 2.burn time 3.photo book arrival 4.and bother 5.tried shellac 6.greta’s new hip hop class 7.how aaron copes sitting next to his mother in law at family dinner? napkin in the ear 8.1st of several doctor appts 9.she likes to graffiti her homework 10.school clothes 11.burn 12.one of those days 13.single parent dinner…pitfire pizza 14.3 days in 15.twitter chat snacking 16.under the weather 17.kardashian marathon 18.cucumber snack 19.what a difference a day makes 20.$$$$ smile 21.expander 22.mama feelin real bad for her boy, yogurt it is 23.hate the first week of the month 24.playdate 25.stealing kisses 26.laguna tide pools 27.gorgeous day 28.greta teaching me how to draw an owl 29.thanks steph 30.practice 31.flipping through some old albums 32.my sister once had straight short hair 33.one more of the bffs